Drug law reforms in place

Wednesday marked the first day that certain felony drug offenders became eligible to apply for re-sentencing under reforms enacted in April to the state's drug laws.

Those reforms give greater discretion to judges to sentence offenders to treatment programs in lieu of former mandatory minimum sentences, which had drawn the ire of many who argued for decades that the state's Rockefeller Drug Laws were excessive and harsh.

Those sentenced to more than three years in prison for Class-B non-violent drug felonies under the previous language of the law are now eligible to apply for re-sentencing at the discretion of the court that originally handed down the sentence, typically a county court, if they are diagnosed as having a dependency problem.

More than 1,000 felons will be eligible to apply for re-sentencing statewide under the new laws, including nine in Rensselaer County, said District Attorney Richard McNally.

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Rensselaer County Court Clerk Richard Reilly said his office received eight or nine applications in advance of the reforms taking effect. Only one was filed by an attorney, while the rest were directly from inmates who may or may not be eligible, Reilly said. Those individuals were assigned an attorney who could begin the process in earnest.

"We go through every one of them to see if they're eligible and let them know," he said.

Gov. David Paterson, who has long been a proponent of drug law reform, said that for too many years drug offenders were simply locked up at great expense to taxpayers and detriment to families with no dent made in their drug problems.

"The reforms that take effect today address those problems," Paterson said in a statement Wednesday. "By returning judicial discretion to the courtroom, we are reuniting families and fighting criminal activity and addiction in our communities."

Some 177 drug courts are already in operation across the state to give first-offense, low-level drug offenders treatment in lieu of hard time. Rensselaer County's drug court, currently presided over by county Judge Robert Jacon, was established in 1997 as the first in Upstate New York.

As part of the recent reforms, additional state funds have been allotted to bolster such programs.

McNally said that, while a new sentence is up to the judge's discretion, his office will examine all of the applicable cases that come through Rensselaer County.

"Going into this thing we're going to take a good, hard look," he said. "We'll take a position just like any other sentencing."

McNally noted, however, that some of those who might be eligible received a stiff sentence for a reason.

"There's a reason why they were sentenced to that kind of time," he said. "Those kinds of sentences aren't handed out every day in this county. People don't typically get five, six, seven years for a sale."